


Forgetful Love

by TCIsBestPony



Category: Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Dementia, Drama, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-24 14:46:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2585219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TCIsBestPony/pseuds/TCIsBestPony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tom has to visit a dementia home to help develop a character he has to play in an upcoming play. There he meets a young lady called Maggie . What is it truly like to look after someone suffering from dementia?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

3rd Person Tom

Tom had been lying in bed with his laptop sitting on his lap for a good half an hour. He was waiting for an email from Luke about a possible part in a play that he had received from an upcoming writer he wanted to work with. Luke said that it would be through that very morning but, nothing had come through. Refreshing the page over and over wasn’t helping as much as he thought it would. It ended up just crashing the website, therefore making him restart his laptop. 

Eventually the email came through and Tom opened it up, reading the email carefully. Once he had read through it once, he reread it to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. The part he was up for was a young man who has a father in an elderly peoples home built and staffed especially for Dementia patients.

‘This will be a good part for you to get your teeth into mate, the audition is next week, and details are attached. I suggest you visit a local home to see what it’s like for a bit, Luke’

Tom rolled his eyes, of course he needed to visit home, and he knew how important research was for a part. It would certainly be a real challenge to him, which he loved.  
After reading the details, Tom replied and accepted his place for the audition and decided to start looking for a home he could visit.


	2. Chapter 2

Tom

With the audition coming up next week, I knew I had to get a lot of research done to impress the casting directors. The play had a very hard hitting script and I needed the knowledge to perform at my best. I had managed to find a local dementia home who were welcoming for actors to come in and meet the residence to learn more. I had contacted them and received a reply almost instantly giving me the go ahead for the next day. I was expected to arrive at 10am, so it was after the breakfast rush, however this was just so I could meet the residents first before spending some real time with them. These were fragile people and needed to be treated with respect. I also did some of my own research using the NHS website, get a feel of what living dementia was initially like so I wasn’t too surprised and unprepared for my first day.  
Once in bed, I thought about what I was to expect the next day. Would it be something to look forward to? Or more something to dread? No-one I knew had dementia, I only knew the basics of them being forgetful. I knew there was more to it than that but I would soon learn more.

Maggie

I received the email late. The email saying we had, yet again, another actor coming into my father’s home to ‘study’ him, and the other residents, for a part. I didn’t mind people coming in to visit, but most of the time, actually no, all of the actors who came to the home weren’t really interested in helping the home, just to watch and learn. They frustrated me greatly. I sent my father to that home so he could be taken care of, not to be looked at like a zoo animal to gawked at.  
Sighing, I shut down my laptop and went to bed. I visited my father every single day, without fail. My older brother helped with the bills. When I couldn’t visit during the day he would take my place until the night. Yeah it was a stressful life but I found my presence was a lot more calming for my father than the nursing staff. Another actor coming in would add to that stress, I knew it would. Whoever this Tom Hiddleston was, I was going to make sure I stayed away from him.

Tom  
I had gotten up early the next day, I wanted to be ready for the day ahead. I dressed smartly as I always do. Being presentable was always high on my priority list. The home was about a half hour drive from my flat, just outside of London, in a quiet suburb. Myself and Luke decided it was best that I attended these sessions on my own so I drove myself to the home. This was so I wouldn’t have such a big presence that I would upset people.  
After getting a bit lost I eventually managed to find the place I was looking for and arrived just on time. I pulled up on the street, not wanting to take up family member’s parking spaces, and headed inside. There was tight security, tighter than I expected. You had to ring two different bells to get past two different door ways to enter the foyer, and after that you had to sign a book and put antibacterial gel on your hands. Only then would the nurses let you past the final set of doors. There, I met the head nursing director, Rick, I think he said his name was. He showed me around the place and introduced me to a few of the nurses. Some were clearly fans and blushed when I smiled at them. I took that in my stride. However, I seemed to struggle with the whole atmosphere to the place, so dull and….empty. Everything felt so still, like if you dropped something it would severe some sort of otherworldly force.  
I found some residence just wandering the hallways. I was introduced to two gentlemen. One just blanked me, staring into space and walking round in small circles. The other seemed a bit friendlier and shook my hand, but didn’t want to let go.  
“Dad, come on, your cup of tea is waiting for you” a young lady said from one of the rooms ahead.

Maggie  
My dad was having a good day today and it was confirmed when he shook the actor’s hand. However I panicked when he wouldn’t let go.  
“Dad, come on, your cup of tea is waiting for you” I said, trying to coax him away from the actor. My father was fixated on his cups of tea and could never turn one down.  
“I’m coming Agatha” He said, letting go and walking towards me. I sighed. Agatha was my mother who died several years ago. He always got me and her mixed up. I helped him back inside and sit back down in his usual chair in the living room. The young actor smiled politely as he was chaperoned down the hallway, past the living room to be shown the entire home. That suited me fine. It wouldn’t stress my father anymore out of his routine. I sat next to him and relaxed. This was going to be different.


	3. Chapter 3

Maggie  
Knowing that the guest actor had been taken away from my father I felt more relaxed. I really didn’t want my father’s routine disrupted. If you’ve never had someone close to you suffer from some form of dementia, you won’t understand how important their daily routine is to them. If one tiny part is messed up or out of place, they panic because they don’t know what is going on. The disease is sort of like a brick wall, slowly being built up around different memories and brain functions. It stops the brain from communicating to the nervous system and other places. Memories are forgotten and remembered for all the wrong reasons. Imagine, you waking up in a completely different place every time you took a nap or a long sleep. Or even not knowing where the sugar is when you knew you always put it in the cupboard, but then suddenly finding it in the fridge. Imagine how confused you’d be, how lost you’d feel, that’s how a dementia patient feels, every few minutes. They zone out and forget. A routine helps them remember things. Having my dad’s routine disrupted I had no idea how he would react, every patient is different. And that scared me.  
“This tea is cold” my dad said.  
“That’s because you finished it about 10 minutes ago dad” I explained.  
“No I didn’t” he argued.  
I sighed heavily and took the empty cup away from him and put it on a tray to be taken away. At least with it out the way, he wouldn’t think he had a cup of tea waiting for him. I watched my father as he slowly drifted off to sleep in his chair, he did that a lot. It seemed to be the only time I didn’t worry about him. He was my life now.  
Once he had completely fallen asleep, I took the tray of empty plates and cups to the kitchen to wash up.

Tom  
The entire tour felt very clinical to me, but the staff were so welcoming and relaxed in talking to me. They had very clearly done this before. Yes this did reassure me but I couldn’t shake off that clinical feel that surrounded me. Everything had its place and the staff just knew where their patients would be at that time. I understood that they had been at it for some time so would learn their patients individually, but it still got to me a bit.  
As soon as the tour had finished they wanted me to start meeting some of the residents. They started me with some of the less progressed patients; the ones who were just a bit forgetful. They were all very welcoming and were very happy to tell me their own personal stories about how they once wanted to be actors but fell in love, etc. The usual elderly stories, stories that my grandparents used to tell me when I was younger. All of them were so charming and lovely, but something in the pit of my stomach was saying there was much worse to come.   
I was taken back to the kitchen as they had offered me a cup of tea, which I had obviously accepted. I never turn down a cup of tea.   
“Ah hello Maggie, need a hand?” a nurse said as we entered the kitchen.  
“No, you’re alright Suzy, it’s just a few cups” the woman, I guessed to be Maggie said.  
“Could you start the kettle boiling for me? I need to go and give Mr Philips his meds” Suzy the nurse asked.  
Maggie nodded as she left the kitchen with just me and Maggie in. The awkward silence soon became too much to bear.  
“Nice to meet you, I’m Tom” I said politely.  
“Maggie” she said as she started the kettle. I sensed she didn’t really want to talk but I just hated silence between people.  
“So was that your father I met briefly earlier?” I asked, moving into the kitchen to try and help.  
“Yes and you don’t need to help, cups of tea aren’t hard to make”   
“I know, I’m just trying to be polite” I said while she tried to reach for a cup from a high shelf. Seeing she was struggling I happily reached up to fetch it down for her. I smiled when she looked at me. She had the deepest of blue eyes and her light brown hair framed her round face just perfectly. She must have been around late 20’s if that, but the dark circles that showed under her eyes seemed to age her. I handed her the mug and she thanked me.  
“I’m guessing you get many actors coming here” I said, leaning against the counter, putting my hands in my pockets.  
“Yeah, lots” she replied simply.  
“Have you ever been star struck?”  
“Once, the first time an actor showed up, but not since”  
“Ah, is that because you’re used to it?”  
“No, it’s because I don’t like actors” she said.

Maggie  
His face looked like I just hit a kitten. I didn’t like actors, after that first encounter with one my admiration for them slowly disappeared and never returned.  
“May I ask why?” he asked. I knew he would ask that.  
“Because they don’t care” I said simply “the first actor to walk through those doors didn’t care about my dad or for any of the residents. They didn’t help with any of the routines; they just kept their distance for a couple of days then left. He did promise to come to a fundraising event but he never showed. Even in interviews about how he researched for the part he didn’t mention us. No kind of recognition and ever since then I’ve lost my respect for you people. You don’t truly know what it’s like to look after a loved one who is slowly forgetting you”  
He looked stunned at me, as if I had just hurt his pride in some way. He was about to reply when Suzy came back in.  
“Ah, that’s him all sorted for now, oh good you two have been talking” she said.  
“Kettle’s boiled, excuse me” I said as I took my father’s cup and went back to join him in the living room.


End file.
